In all the first-day-of-offseason-conditioning euphoria, new defensive end LaMarr Woodley said Tuesday that the Raiders were definitely a playoff team.

Now that he has the season schedule in his hands, Woodley might be scratching his head a little bit. Oakland (4-12 last season) knew going into Wednesday's schedule release that it had the toughest slate of opponents in the NFL, but the actual dates are a little harrowing.

The opening four-game stretch is brutal. Oakland opens Sept. 7 against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. It's one of three games in the opening month that has a 10 a.m. PDT kickoff. After going home to face the Houston Texans with a 1:25 p.m. start, the Raiders travel to New England and then to London for a "home" game against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 28.

Oakland has a bye in Week 5, and then home games against San Diego and Arizona. After an Oct. 26 game in Cleveland is when it gets ugly again.

The Raiders play nine times against 2013 playoff teams, and seven of those games are in the second half of the season. Oakland plays last year's Super Bowl teams back to back, at Seattle in Week 10 and home against Denver in Week 11. All told, the Raiders have five games against last season's participants in conference-championship games (twice against the Broncos, plus at the Patriots, at the Seahawks and home against the 49ers on Dec. 7).

The game against San Francisco is the first regular-season home game between the two teams in Oakland since 2002. The Raiders have only one prime-time game on the schedule, a Thursday night home game against the Chiefs on Nov. 20 .

Overall, Oakland's opponents were a combined 148-108 last season, a .578 winning percentage. That is the highest in the NFL.